It has now come to the
end of another financial year and we ask all members, except
those who are Life Members or those who have joined for the
first time since January 2004 to renew their membership.

Please continue your valued support of Friends of Rietvlei.
As has to happen from time to time the membership fees have
to be adjusted. The following are the new rates:
· ORDINARY R 40.00
· FAMILY R 50.00
· JUNIOR R 20.00
· CORPORATE R 280.00
· 10 YEAR MEMBERSHIP (per person) R200.00

Apart from a slight increase, the major change has been to
change Life Membership to a 10 Year Membership. For those
with the foresight to take out Life Membership in the past
you have had a good deal!! From now on the 10 Year
Membership will still offer future members a cost effective
membership. Should you have any queries please contact the
Treasurer, Margaret Maciver on 557 4990.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Our AGM will take place
on:

THURSDAY 6TH MAY 2004 AT THE RIETVLEI EDUCATION CENTRE,
NORTH SHORE, RIETVLEI, AT 19H30 FOR 20H00

The business part of the meeting will take place first. The
present serving committee will then stand down and a new
committee will be nominated & elected. The present number of
4 committee members was felt to be too few as there are many
issues to be dealt with. The following expertise is needed
on the committee: secretarial, bookkeeping, fundraising,
birding, botanical, environmental education, display making,
general enthusiasm and interest in the local environment.

With our new Education Centre in full operation, there is
also a need for people to help with certain duties when we
have a function, ie. someone to be present on our monthly
Saturday open morning, people to assist with serving
refreshments, etc. Those people only need to be available on
the day and do not have to attend committee meetings.

After the AGM business we will have a guest speaker:
Cliff Dorse, recently appointed as Conservation Manager at
the Blaauwberg Conservation Area, but previously working at
Zandvlei Nature Reserve, will be speaking on "Urban
Conservation"

WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR PRESENCE AND SUPPORT AT THE AGM!!

EDUCATION CENTRE "OPEN
DAYS"

Those members who enjoyed the first evening talk in our new
Education Centre may be pleased to learn that we have
decided to have a regular "open day". Please diarise the
third Saturday of every month when the Education Centre will
be open from 9 am to 12 pm. Light refreshments will be
available at a small cost to boost our fundraising efforts.

The first such Open Day was held on Saturday, 20 March when
we welcomed about 14 visitors to the Centre. It was a good
opportunity to examine some of the displays and reading
material and get to know fellow members. Those who felt up
to it were invited to join in a walk to the hide, which was
enjoyed by all despite few sightings of birds.

We feel that a regular Open Day will be an excellent
opportunity for members to enjoy the Education Centre and
the various exhibits, and to encourage friends to visit the
Rietvlei area. There is no entrance fee at the main gate for
members if you intend walking to the Centre, but a nominal
fee is charged for access by car. People who are not members
of Friends of Rietvlei will have to pay the normal entrance
fee. Come along next Open Day (on 17 April) and join in our
activities! Thereafter 15 May and 19 June.

NEW GATE TIMES

Please note that due to a
change in working hours for City of Cape Town officials the
entrance gate off Grey/Sandpiper Roads, Rietvlei, Table
View, will now be open from 09h00 to 17h30, seven days a
week.

RAINFALL/DUST

March has proved to be a
dry and windy month. The Central Pan started drying out in
February this year and the recommendations from the CSIR
"Dust Study" were put into practice by the Rietvlei
conservation staff. All went well with no dust episodes
until late in March, when the pump that was pumping water
from the North Vlei onto the Central Pan broke down, the pan
dried out and some really strong south-easterly winds blew.
Residents of Flamingo Vlei were subjected to clouds of dust
blowing over them. At the time of writing the pump had been
replaced and water was flowing onto the Central Pan again.
Easter is often recognized as the start of the autumn rains,
so we could see the pans filling up again shortly.

SCHOOL VISITS

The advent of the wooden
cabin, known and operated as the Rietvlei Education Centre,
has really opened up the area as far as school groups are
concerned. The Nature Conservation students at Rietvlei have
contacted many schools and arranged visits to Rietvlei. This
first school term there have been visits from grades 1 - 8
from Woodlands Primary, over 7 days, from Saambou Primary,
Melkbos Preprimary and Athwood Primary. Nearly 500 children
have visited the center in March!! Most of these visits have
been enabled by sponsorship for the bus transport from
Caltex. This a really exciting start to the use of our
centre and a great achievement for our Friends group, the
nature conservation staff of the City and Caltex.

The YES (Youth Environmental School) 2004 program in the
first week of June will be another time of concentrated
environmental education at Rietvlei. This program will
include the celebration of World Environment Week . The
theme for this year is Seas and Oceans. More in the next
newsletter!

ALIEN VEGETATION

WATER HYACINTH -A team of
10 labourers have been working from the Blaauwberg Road
bridge southwards clearing the water hyacinth that had grown
quite extensively in the early summer months. Good progress
has been made on removing this alien water weed from the
reserve.

ROOIKRANS & PORT JACKSON - these plants need ongoing
removal., even from areas that have had extensive clearing.
Louis Raubenheimer welcomes your support with hacking.
Contact him ( 554 2221) if you can give a few hours of your
time.

ROOIKRANS & PORT JACKSON - these plants need ongoing
removal., even from areas that have had extensive clearing.
Louis Raubenheimer welcomes your support with hacking.
Contact him ( 554 2221) if you can give a few hours of your
time.